…also known as Regulation Scrimmage
(by Undead Miss Red)
I’m partial to our tribute-in-snarky-jersey-form, honoring one of our renowned refs….
Once a week, our practice time isn’t about drills and scenarios. We don’t focus on agility or endurance or speed. Once a week, we show up and just play roller derby together. Technically, it’s called Regulation Scrimmage; but since joining the Outfit in January 2013, I’ve always thought of it as Family Night. And here’s what it looks like….
We walk into our practice space at Fleetwood Roller Rink, wearing either black or white as our practice jersey — and all of us, to one extent or another, sometimes more intently than others, start looking around to see which Outfit skaters wore the same color as we did that night. (Full disclosure: Mimi Furst and I have been known to text each other in advance and agree on a color so we can play on the same side.) This is also when we wear some of our more ridiculous Outfit swag — Hero Shima, one of our PhD’ed skaters, wears her ‘Stoopid Shima’ jersey; Nikita wears one with her signature cheer for Matza across the back (‘Yeah, wife!’); and ask any 2013 Shakedown skater about our infamous Steak & Shakedown alter ego jerseys, because those are out in full effect at scrimmage, too. We get into our gear, warm up, and then get in line for an equipment check from our refs, just like you see before the start of a bout. The bench coaches and NSOs are there, too (along with penalty boxes). We split off into sides for a quick strategy talk, and then the first of two 30-minute halves gets underway.
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